Thanks to this thread, I have just reread the interview in The Telegraph Magazine in 1968 by the Plimmers, and here are some quotes from the article.

Talking about The Lord of the Rings

"The book is not about anything but itself. It has no allegorical intentions, topical, moral, religious or political. It is not about modern wars or H-bombs, and my villain is not Hitler"

Fairy tale story writers

"As a child I couldn't stand Hans Anderson, and I can't now."

On his masterpiece

"Believable fairy stories must be intensely practical. You must have a map, no matter how rough. Otherwise you wander all over the place. In 'The Lord of the Rings' I never made anyone go farther than he could on a given day."

On films

"Please," wrote a 17-year-old girl, "don't let them make a movie out of your 'Ring'. It would be like putting Disneyland into the Grand Canyon."

He feels strongly that the 'Ring' should not be filmed. "You can't cramp narrative into dramatic form. It would be easier to film 'The Odyssey'. Much less happens in it. Only a few storms."

The interviewers got an awesome book signing at the end of the interview, Tolkien wrote "A star shines on the hour of our meeting" in Elvish :)

If Mr Jackson was filming The Odyssey, I am sure he could come up with more than a few storms happening in it :(

Have we seen the signed book on the market?

Posted on: 2014/2/28 6:45

Edited by Trotter on 2014/2/28 6:59:42Edited by Trotter on 2014/2/28 7:01:00Edited by Trotter on 2014/2/28 7:01:51Edited by Trotter on 2014/2/28 7:02:44